Legend of the Tallassee Carbine

by Larry Williamson, Dovard Taunton (Illustrator)

The South was desperate in May of 1864. The forces against them had their eyes on Richmond, its government, and its manufacturing capability, especially its armories. The small town of Tallassee, Alabama, far from action and safely sited on the banks of the Tallapoosa River, was selected to craft the new cavalry carbine Richmond could not. In the closing week of the war, the estimated five hundred carbines produced were ordered shipped to Macon. They left Tallassee and disappeared from history, never to resurface. Only ten are known to exist today. Larry Williamson’s premise for their loss is both unique and believable, even as it may be fanciful speculation. His characters are enjoyable, noble, and sweet, especially the young confederate soldier and his aspiring Juliet, the daughter of Benjamin Micou, the historical president of the Tallassee mill company.What One Enthusiast Says AboutLegend of the Tallassee Carbine Major M. E. Hubbs (USAR ret.) former US Army Historian, co-founder of the Tennessee Valley Civil War Round Table and author of The Secret of Wattensaw Bayou.“Legend of the Tallassee Carbine is a fast moving tale of life behind the lines during the Civil War. Few books are devoted to the efforts of those craftsmen and engineers who toiled in the factories and armories that supplied the armies in the field. This story does just that, and uses the manufacture of the elusive Tallassee Carbine as its centerpiece. The Tallassee Carbine is one of the rarest weapons to emerge from the American Civil War, and the mysterious fate of the five hundred weapons made at Tallassee has been the center of lore for one hundred and fifty years. This well written story chronicles the carbine’s origin in intricately researched historical fiction. It then goes on to speculate, within the same story line, what became of these fascinating weapons.”

298 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 25, 2013